When you’re burning a candle, homemade or purchased, you want that scent to permeate through your room or your home. But what happens when you light a candle and don’t get the fragrance you want? Which brands can you purchase that have the best scent throw?
What is the Strongest Brand of Candle Scent?
Whether you’re making your candles or purchasing them, it’s important to understand what goes into making a candle having a strong scent throw. There are also ways you can make your candles smell stronger—homemade or otherwise. Read on to find out more about how you can test your candles fragrance or find the best scented candles on the market.
What makes a candle have a strong scent throw?
When you’re looking for a candle, there’s always something you want to consider, and that is the candle’s scent throw. A scent throw is the smell that you perceive in a room after lighting a candle and how it fills that room. The cold throw is what you smell when the wax is solid, while a hot throw is what you smell after it is lit.
One of the reasons a candle has a strong scent throw comes down to its size—the larger the diameter of the container or the candle, the stronger the scent will be. Your wick may also determine how significant your scent throw is.
You should also be aware of the size of your room compared to the size of your candle. If you are burning a smaller candle in a very large room, the scent will dissipate much faster and seem weak. Conversely, a large candle in a very small room can quickly become overpowering.
How can I make my candles smell stronger?
When creating your own candles, you can increase the amount of fragrance in your candles by using the right wax and fragrance oil. There are percentages of each that you should be considering—while most waxes can only hold one ounce of fragrance per one pound of wax, there are other types of waxes, like soy wax, that can tolerate up to 1.6 ounces.
Adding your fragrance oil in at the appropriate temperature is also key—depending on your wax type, it could be anywhere between 150 and 190 degrees—and making sure you stir gently and thoroughly throughout the entire candle will help it mix evenly. Using the appropriate wax type will also help create a better scent throw—soy wax or coconut wax holds fragrance the best.
Your wax type also determines how long your candle should cure. Most take about three days at the minimum, but one to two weeks before you burn it is best.
If you are simply burning a candle that you purchased, there are still ways for you to make it smell stronger. Make sure you trim your wick before lighting to about a quarter of an inch to make your candle burn cleaner. It will also stop the wick from curling, but don’t cut it too short so that you cannot light your wick.
When it comes to wicks, if you’re finding a single wick candle isn’t giving you enough fragrance, find a multiwick candle. They will burn faster, but they will be able to double or triple the amount of fragrance getting into the air at a time.
If you’re worried about not getting enough scent from your candle, you can also find candles with paper or cotton wicks that are centered within soy wax or coconut wax candles. Candles that fall into those categories will burn the most evenly with the best scent throws.
Allow your candle to burn longer. For most candles, you want to wait until the pooled wax is about to touch the container sides of your candle before extinguishing the flame—if you let the wax pool touch the edges of the container, it could cause an issue known as tunneling, and you could waste some of your candle.
Longest Lasting Candle Waxes (Top 5)
How to Test Your Candle’s Fragrance
If you’re looking to find out just how fragrant your candle is compared to others, you can test their fragrance by letting them burn for a few hours in a larger, unimpeded room. Burn each candle by itself first to find out how the scent throws around the room. If you really want to put your candles to the test, burn two at a time and smell which scent is more powerful.
How to Sell Candles at Home
Most Fragrant Candle Brands
WoodWick by Yankee Candle Company
Originally their own separate brand, WoodWick was purchased by Yankee Candle Company in 2017 and is now their premium brand. Touted to be better and more luxurious than Yankee’s flagship brand, WoodWick are burned completely through wooden wicks that can crackle, while their blend of soy and paraffin wax helps retain fragrance, keep harmful chemicals out of the air, and reduces residue left by the candle.
Bath & Body Works
Bath & Body Works focuses on selling their three-wick candle, which, as mentioned before, increases the fragrance in a room exponentially. While they do sell single wick candles, their three-wick still tends to be the most popular—and most fragrant. At this point, they do not have much choice on their “high intensity” line—right now, just their White Barn Mahogany Teakwood—but that singular candle ranks high on the “most fragrant” list.
NEST Candles
A luxury brand of candles, NEST Candles might be more expensive than others, but they offer a variety of scents and tend to be extremely fragrant. They specialize in larger candles with multiple wicks—great for a large room where you want a strong scent throw. Because they have their own wax blend, you can also depend on NEST Candles to burn longer—around sixty hours. Their most popular scent continues to be Moroccan amber.
LAFCO Candles
Another luxury brand, these candles can run about $60 but can burn about twice as long as most other candle brands. You’ll also find that their Absolute line of candles are made in their own glass containers that are hand blown. These candles don’t use essential oils or fragrance oils for their scents—to make essential oils, items are distilled and heated. The fragrances used in the Absolute line are made from absolute oils, which are much more concentrated and extracted differently than essential oils. Because this process is so labor intensive and requires natural ingredients to work, scents are limited.
Capri Blue Candles
Known for their overpowering scents in the store Anthropology, Capri Blue Candles, namely the Capri Blue Volcano scent, is known for burning long and having a fresh, fruity scent. These candles carry classic fragrances that you can burn year-round.
Regardless of whether you’re making your candles or purchasing them, the most fragrant candles on the market all have something in common—they are made by well established brands. Don’t be afraid to test smaller companies’ candles, as you might be surprised by the amount of scent throw they may have. If you are making your own candles, use these brands as examples to find out just what you need to do to make sure your candles are competitive. There is much to learn from the established brands, and you can enjoy a fragrant candle along the way.
How to Start a Wax Candle Business in 4 Easy Steps
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I stop my candles from tunneling?
Tunneling is what happens when you let a candle burn too long, allowing the wax pool to touch the edges of the container. Quality does not matter when it comes to tunneling—all candles could do it. On your first burn of the candle, make sure the candle wax on the top of the candle is completely melted before extinguishing. If you still get tunneling in your candle, you can use a hair dryer or heat gun to warm up the surface of the candle and allow it to reform. Always let your candle burn long enough to melt the surface completely!
What is the best type of wax for scented candles?
Paraffin wax, although not natural, is still the best type of wax for scented candles. The downside is that it can put toxic chemicals into the air. While it is still safe to use, more environmentally friendly customers or users may shy away from it. Palm wax and soy wax tend to be the best natural options for scented candles, while beeswax, due to its natural scent, is least likely to work for a scented candle.
What makes a candle crackle?
A candle crackles due to the nature of its wick—a wooden wick in your candle will give it that signature crackle noise. Using a soft wooden wick helps make that even stronger. Using beeswax or soy wax are best with wooden wicks, so using those in combination with the proper fragrance oil and container, you too can create a candle that crackles.
Looking to start your own candle making business, check out my startup documents here
Please note that the contents of this blog are for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Any action taken based on the information provided in this blog is solely at your own risk. Additionally, all images used in this blog are generated under the CC0 license of Creative Commons, which means they are free to use for any purpose without attribution.
Meet Shawn Chun: Entrepreneur and Candle Business Fan.
I’m a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online candle business resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a candle business owner at a craft fair, farmers market, retail location or anywhere else I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to obtain and retain clients, finding good employees all while trying to stay competitive. That’s why I created Candle Business Boss: I want to help candle business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.
2 thoughts on “What Is The Strongest Brand Of Candle Scent?”
Comments are closed.